


Mother's Intuition

by nikospringles



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-27 15:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/980753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikospringles/pseuds/nikospringles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Anne knew Harry and Louis were soulmates before Harry said his first words, and Jay moved Louis to the states out of homophobia. Anne’s taken precautionary measures to make sure they meet again one day. Alternatively titled: The one where Anne is the best fucking Mom in the world, and Louis is a stubborn asshole.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beary Nice to Meet You

**Author's Note:**

> All feedback is welcome and encouraged!

Louis’ hands hurt.

Moving box after box after box, emptying his closet and dresser, moving all of his furniture to a storage unit (and then helping Liam move all of his furniture into the same unit) until next semester started, and he could pull it all out to put it right back into the same dorm. Saying hurried goodbyes to his best friend as he jumped into his car and made his way to home to spend the summer with his family. Wringing his hand and twisting his wrists to keep his mind off the pricking in the back of his eyes.

Louis Hurt.

Liam had offered to have Louis stay at his over the summer, but Louis had shaken his head and said he hadn’t wanted to be a burden; that he could stay with his own family. Told Liam he missed his Mother. And he did. But he hadn’t told Liam that his mother had disowned him, that he had come out to her not two weeks before the end of term, and she had all but spat in his face. Louis had no place to stay. Louis had no money, Louis had no job. His mother had been paying his room and board, and sending him a monthly check for food.

But now he sits in a cramped storage unit, feeling as though he’s sat in the middle of a Tetris board, there’s such little room. He’s on the sofa he and Liam had bought for their shared dorm, and next to him is a cooler he’s filled with water, soda, and lunch meats. He used the last of his money on that. The last check his Mother will ever send him. His phone is about to die, and he’s starting to think he should call Liam, but of course he doesn’t.

Louis is a proud fucker.

He is a proud fucker, and he’s bound and determined to get himself out of this. He just isn’t sure how to go about it. As he leans back into the sofa and lets out a long, angsty sigh, he spots a piece of brown fluff sticking out of a haphazardly packed box. He reaches out, straining to grip the soft fur, and yanks out of the box a stuffed bear. He feels himself smiling sadly at the toy, memories flooding into him.

_Louis is in the kitchen when he hears a roar outside, and he runs to the window in the living room to see who it is. He thinks maybe it’s one of his Mom’s friends, come over to give him a pie and tell him happy birthday. He has four right now, and if he gets one more, he’ll have one for each year. What he sees, though, is the familiar white and blue mail truck. His Mom’s not home, and he doesn’t want to wake up his nanny, so he goes to get it himself._

_When he reaches the mailbox and looks inside it, he’s confused. The mailbox is empty, so what did the mail man just leave for them? He moves to head back inside, and accidentally kicks something large and it’s light enough that it flies halfway across the yard. He runs over to pick up the box and struggles to read the label. (He’s only just started learning to read.) When he pieces together the name, and it turns out to be his own, he wastes no time in ripping it open._

_Inside, he finds a small brown teddy bear, with little black buttons hand sewn on for eyes. He turns it over and admires the soft sweater the bear is wearing. On the back of the red material is a soft yellow L wrapping around a matching H. Louis decides the L is for his first name, but he’s unsure about the H. Maybe whoever made this got his last name wrong. He gets up to take the bear into his room, and a little envelope falls out of the box; it also has his name on it. Louis doesn’t really want to read the letter, so he tucks it underneath the front of the bear’s sweater, and runs inside to find a place for his new friend._

Louis smiles at the memory, before a something occurs to him; where is that letter? He certainly never read it, and after the fit his mother threw the first time she saw the bear, he kept it hidden. He doesn’t think he ever moved it. Maybe… His fingers wander underneath the fabric of the bear’s miniature sweater, feeling around until he findss a hard edge. He pulls out the small envelope, and looks at it intently. It’s incredibly small, in a square, violet pastel envelope. His name on the front is elegant and the L has a large flourish, and I feels familiar. Long, dark hair and warm eyes flash into his head, and he hears a woman’s soft laugh.

He shrugs it off as he opens the envelope, holding his breath, though he doesn’t know why. He doesn’t expect a miracle, or anything special at all, but he’s nervous. He has a feeling about this, and his stomach is tight as he pulls from the envelope a tightly folded piece of paper. He takes a deep breath, unfolds, and starts reading from the top.

_Louis,_

_I don’t know how much you’ve heard about me, if you’ve heard anything at all, but you’re mother and I were very close once. She was my closest friend, and when you were a only two years old, you and she spent every day at my house, and you played with my son. I saw something there, something that your Mother didn’t agree with, between you and my son. You were protective of him. You cared for him and you would carry conversations with him, even before he could speak. When I told your mother what I thought, she moved you down to the States. I’ll bet she never even told you where you were born. Did you know you were born in Doncaster, Louis? At Park Hill Hospital. You’re British, you know._

Louis feels his brow furrowing. Doncaster? Where the hell was Doncaster? His Mother always told him he was from here, from California. She told him he was born in Palomar Hospital, in San Diego County. He makes a mental note to visit Palomar and check this out, before he remembers where he is and scowls. He returns to the letter with a frown.

_I imagine that you’re reading this around the age of nineteen or twenty. There’s no way your Mother would let you have this while she had any control over you. She may have even thrown it away, in which case I can only hope fate works it’s magic. There’s not much I can tell you, as I don’t want to influence anything, but I can give you some starting stones to point you in the right direction. This bear, Louis, holds some secrets along with his stuffing. Secrets that will tell you where to go. I hope you’re smart enough to take my direction. You always seemed like you’d be bright. I missed you Louis. So did he, even if he doesn’t remember._

_Love Truly,_

_Anne Cox_

Louis is upset.

His Mother kept secrets from him. Louis is scared. How did this Anne woman know him so well? Mostly, Louis was confused. Who was “he”? And what kind of secrets could a stuffed bear hold? Louis is tired. He’ll call Liam in the morning, if his phone isn’t dead. He’ll figure this all out in the morning. He reaches up to tug the string and turn off the single hanging bulb in the storage unit, and lays down on the sofa.

He finds himself cuddling the bear as he drifts to sleep, seeing the same green that’s haunted his dreams since he was small.


	2. Unit Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Anne knew Harry and Louis were soulmates before Harry said his first words, and Jay moved Louis to the states out of homophobia. Anne’s taken precautionary measures to make sure they meet again one day. Alternatively titled: The one where Anne is the best fucking Mom in the world, and Louis is a stubborn asshole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is over twice as long as the first, and just as confusing. As always, feedback of all varieties are appreciated. Enjoy!

Louis wakes to the smell of dirt and cardboard and ham that’s been left out. He’s starting to wish that he’d thought about that when he first bought the lunchmeats, but he was never one for forethought. He lies on the sofa, in the dark, cramped storage unit he now called home, willing the laws of time and space to take back the past few days of his life. Maybe to let him go back and tell Liam about his Mother before he drives away. Of course, it doesn’t work. It never does.

Louis thinks maybe he should watch a teensy bit less Doctor Who.

After a while, he reaches up and gropes through the darkness until his fingers grasp the cool metal chain above him and he yanks. The room is bathed in a dim light, and somewhere in Louis’ head it registers that if he’s going to be living in here, he needs to get a new light bulb. Only then does he remember fully that he doesn’t have the money to buy one. He doesn’t have ten cents to his name. He is Louis Tomlinson and at the moment he spells that with warm soda and green turkey.

He sits up and rubs the sleep from his eyes before yawning lazily, and scratching absentmindedly at his belly when his shirt rides up. He puts on his glasses and, producing a pen and paper from one of the many boxes he shares his living space with, and begins to sort through all of his pathetic problems and how he plans to fix them.

_1._ _No house. (Got a storage unit)_

_2._ _No shower. (Drop by Niall’s and casually ask to use his shower before I leave.)_

_3._ _No electricity/no way to charge phone (maybe –_

Shit, his phone! Louis sets the paper aside and curses himself as he scrambles for his phone. It’s just barely hanging on to its last bar of battery life, so if he’s going to call Liam he should do it now. He takes a deep breath and clicks on Liam’s name as his eyes wander to a small purple envelope lying atop a box. The letter. Maybe if he could find a way to contact that woman… she seemed quite fond of-

“Lou?”

Louis gives a startled squeak, having momentarily forgotten he was holding a phone to his ear. He clasps his hand over his heart dramatically, catching his breath before Liam’s voice reaches him again.

“Louis, are you okay?”

“What? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Well, really…” he’s not fine. That’s what he needs to say. Liam, I’m not okay. I’m in a cramped storage unit, and it smells like bad ham, and I probably smell like bad ham now and I really need help because my Mother hung me out to dry and I hurt so much.

“What’s wrong?”

Tell him the truth.

“I lost my phone charger.” Shit. “I just wanted to call and tell you that I won’t be able to talk to you for a while, unless I call you through Niall.”

“Jesus, Lou, it’s only our second day on break.”

“I know, I’m just clumsy.” I’m broke, Liam. “Is it with your luggage?”

“No, I already unpacked. It wasn’t there. Go back and check the storage unit”

Ha! Funny. “Trust me, Liam, it’s not in the storage unit. “

“Well, if that’s it-“

No! “Liam, wait!”

Louis hears murmuring on the other end of the phone before Liam’s voice comes back to him, “Louis, what is it? Are you sure you’re okay?”

No, I need you. I need my best friend. “I just wanted to ask if.. i-if…” his eyes land once more on the envelope. “Did you know I’m British?”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I found this letter from when I was young. This woman named Anne says that my mom and I are from some place called Doncaster, and that I was tight with her son.” This is sounding pretty ridiculous, Louis thinks, “ My mom, being the homophobe that she is, moved us away because she thought we were… playing doctor or some shit, I guess. Or at least that’s what the letter says.”

“Shit, Lou. That’s… that’s a big thing. Your mom’s been lying to you all this time?”

Louis only wanted to change the subject, but now that he thinks about it, he really does want to know. If he’s doing the whole homeless thing, he’ll need something to keep him from spiraling into a depression.

What the hell, he thinks; he’ll go for it.

“It wouldn’t surprise me. She wants me to find her son, reunite or some crap like that. What do you think?”

“Me? I.. Did she tell you where to find him in the letter? An address, or something?”

“A teddy bear.” And that doesn’t sound weird. Not at all.

“What?”

“That’s all she left. There was a teddy bear with the letter, and in the letter she said the bear could help me find her son.”

“This is like a romance novel.” There’s a dreamy quality to Liam’s voice.

Louis scoffs. “Right, we’ll ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after in my storage unit.”

He doesn’t even realize what he just said until Liam asks,

“What do you mean storage unit… ?”

Shit.

“Liam, I- it was an accident. I meant.. bedroom?”

“Louis, are you sleeping in the storage unit?”

Fuck fuck fuck. “No! Everything’s fine.”

“I’m coming down there.”

What? “What?”

“If you’re sleeping in a storage unit, then my vacation is over.”

No use in denying it anymore, he guesses. “Liam, no. I can do this myself.”

“Mom, I need to leave.”

“Liam, no!”

“Yeah, it’s really important. Lou needs my help.”

By now Louis’ voice has adopted a warning tone, “Liam..”

“I don’t know, he won’t tell me what happened. That’s why I need to go.”

“Liam!”

“Thanks Mom, I love you too. I’ll see you soon.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’ll see you soon, Lou. Be waiting at Stan’s, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

And with that, the line died.

——

Louis can barely think over the stench of motor oil and rust, but this is where Liam told him to wait. He gives one final, menacing glare to Stan’s Auto Expo before trudging up to the large blue building, dragging his one pitiful suitcase, to sit on the relatively shaded sidewalk. As he sits, he thinks of his life, and what he’s done with it. He thinks of Liam, and how his vacation is ruined, and he thinks of his lonely, miserable existence. He’s starting to get a little depressed when he hears the bell on the door ring.

He turns out of curiosity, but the man at the door has turned to face the inside of the building, having a hushed conversation with someone on the other side of the door. Louis glances away but for a second, and when he turns again, the stranger has gone. Louis’ eyes search the parking lot, unsure of why he’s so interested in this stranger.

He finds the man again just in time to see a mop of chocolate curls speed away in an old Toyota (nice ass car, Louis thinks). Louis feels a faint disappointment, but brushes it off.

It’s not like he knew the guy anyway.

                And now there’s honking, and a massive, white Ford Explorer  pulls up right in front of him, Liam in the driver’s seat.

“Get in, young one.” Liam commands, playfully of course.

“I’m over a year older than you.” He strides up to the car, falling into their banter easily. It distracts him, and he’s thankful for it.

“And one grade behind.” Liam counters. Louis scoffs as he shoves his suitcase in the back seat and walks around to the front. Once he’s seated and putting on his safety belt, he speaks,

“I was waiting for you! My timing was just a little off.” And Liam laughs, truly, and looks over at Louis. At once Louis wishes he hadn’t. He can see the concern and pity, practically  _engraved_  in Liam’s face, and it makes him want to vomit.

“Can you..”Louis looks away, out the window, at the road, at  _anything_ but Liam, “Can you not look at me like that? It really isn’t that bad.” And Liam snorts.  _Snorts_. And it pisses Louis right the fuck off. Liam honestly doesn’t believe he can do this, and he  _can._ He knows he can. “This isn’t fucking funny, Liam! This is my life, and I don’t-“

“This  _is_  your life, Louis. And you are my best friend. If I didn’t help you here, I could never live with myself. It isn’t all about you, and you need to learn that.” And now Liam looks upset. Like Louis is the one that offended him.

“Sorry…” Louis looks at Liam as his friend drives, “about all of this. Really, I-“

“Louis, shut up. I love you, and you know that.” With this Liam tosses a lopsided grin at him, and Louis heart warms for a moment. And then Liam’s eyes are back on the road. “Read me that letter, if you don’t mind?”

“Yeah, as soon as we stop and I can get to my bag.” And then it occurs to Louis; where are they  _going_?

And he asks.

As it turns out, they’re going to Niall’s. Liam had called and explained what he could of the situation, and Niall had offered them a guest room and a couch until they had a next move. Louis protested, of course, but in the end they still pulled up in front of a dingy apartment complex, and Liam still texted Niall, and the gate still swung open.

After they had parked and made their way up to Niall’s apartment (apartment 10B, on the second floor) and a chirpy Irish accent with artificially blonde hair had let them in, Louis made a beeline for the shower, where he stands now. Thankful to be rid of the scent of old ham, upset because his friends won’t back off. And thankful, because his friends won’t back off. He can hear them talking through the bathroom wall, and he stops humming for a moment to zone in on their words.

He first hears Niall’s Irish lilt, trying to be quiet but not really capable. “So what actually happened? Why was he in the storage unit?”

And then Liam, “I don’t know, we haven’t gotten around to talking about that yet. It must have been something bad, for his own Mother to hang him out.”

“You don’t think he finally told her? I mean..”

Liam gasps in realization, and Louis’ stomach drops. Well now they’ll be coddling him for more than one reason. He didn’t want anyone to know yet. He hadn’t fully accepted it himself. He doesn’t want to talk to them, doesn’t want to be consoled. He could stay in the shower until its late enough for him to go to bed, but he shoot’s the idea down because it’s still light outside and he’s already pruning.

Reluctantly, he turns off the shower, steps out, and takes his sweet time getting dressed. He notes with distaste that the ham scents still linger faintly on his clothes. Louis thinks depressingly that it’s an omen. He can’t escape the smell of rotten ham, just like he can’t escape his issues, and this whole fucked up situation.

Did he just have a breakthrough?

Nah, he’d still back if he could. That ship sailed with his Freudian slip on the phone, three long hours ago. God, has it really only been that long? It feels like an eternity to Louis.

He steps into the living room bracingly, and finds two sets of arms circling him in one big mis-proportioned clusterfuck of a sentiment. He fights the embrace with force, because this kind of comfort is going to make him cry, and he doesn’t think he’s quite ready to cry yet. After several seconds of wriggling, Louis breaks free, with only moderately puffy eyes, and sits on the couch.

When Liam sits next to him, Louis pulls up his suitcase out from behind the couch (a big brown thing that he doesn’t understand Niall’s love for; it’s absolutely hideous, with holes and stains that Louis doesn’t quite care to inquire of) and opens the large front pouch. He pulls out a blanket – one of Liam’s that he snatched while packing – that’s bundled up in a hasty fashion. He carefully unfolds it, and reveals the teddy bear he’d hidden inside of it.

He admires the bear for a second; it’s beautiful handmade sweater, and charcoal black eyes. He turns it over and runs his finger down the back of the bear’s sweater, over the fancy golden L and H. When his hand reaches the hem, his fingers crawl underneath and grip a hard square parcel. He pulls out the letter, noting for the second time that it’s a perfect square, and admiring the woman’s – Anne’s – perfect handwriting.

He looks up to the others, and see Liam staring at the letter with a cautious, but curious, gaze. Niall just looks confused. Louis hands the letter to Liam, and asks him to read it aloud. Liam’s hesitant at first, clearly affected by the tension in the room; half because of Liam and Niall’s revelation, and half because of the mysterious square in Liam’s own hands. Eventually, however, he shakes himself out of it and opens the pastel envelope.

He reads the whole thing, beginning to end, and then a second time. When he finishes with the letter, he sets it carefully down so they can all have a look at it. Louis glances at Niall again; he still looks confused, but now he looks less so, and a little excited. Louis thinks he’s getting a little excited too. He shifts his gaze to the ground and lets himself appreciate his friends. One cancelled his own vacation to save Louis’ ass, and the other offered them a guest room without so much as a second thought. And then there’s the letter.

Oh god, the letter.

Louis’ not sure exactly how he feels about the letter. Yes, he’s excited, but he’s also freaked out; what if this person isn’t who they say and Louis gets kidnapped or something? Louis’ worried; what id this person is dead or unreachable and Louis’ just setting himself up for a wild goose chase with no goose? More than anything, though, Louis’ grateful; how many people have friends who would help him with something like this. Maybe.

Maybe.

His brow furrows. What if they don’t? What if they think it’s stupid, or that it’s too much? What if-

“So the first thing we need to do is figure out what the bear does.” Liam answers Louis’ question for him, and Louis can’t help it; he grins as bright as the sun shines in July (and they’re in San Diego, so that’s saying something). Liam continues, “Or what it means. It has to have some significance, clearly.” Liam catches Louis eye and rolls his own, tilting his head to the side as if to say  _You know I wouldn’t leave you to something like this by yourself_.

Louis looks up to where Niall is still standing, looking down at the letter with an intense expression. Louis tenses, thinking Niall might not be on board, but his muscles relax when Niall looks to him and grins.

“You’ve got quite the task at hand, mate. I’ll help you however you need.” After sending Louis an encouraging smile, Niall turns to the bear. Before Louis knows it, they’re all crowded around the bear, where it’s sat in the corner of Niall’s brown L shaped couch. Louis on the left of it, finding himself leaned in as though being close to it will make the riddle more obvious. Liam on the right of it, sat with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped, his mouth resting on them, looking thoughtful. And then Niall, stood in between them, leaning down with his hands on his knees, just staring.

Niall speaks, but they all keep their gazes directed at the bear.

“Come on, little fella,” He says quietly, “where are we supposed to go?”

They spend several minutes studying the bear like this before Liam leans back and admits defeat.

“It’s not talking, guys. We need to figure out another way.” Just as Louis begins to turn away, there’s a pounding at the door, causing all three of them to jump, and Louis himself to squeak (which he would forever deny). Louis takes a moment to catch his breath before nudging Niall and speaking.

“Are you gonna get that, man?”

Niall shrugs and says that it’s probably not important, when the banging comes back, only this time it’s louder and slightly irritated. Niall gets a strange look, one that Louis’ can’t place, before he call out, rather weakly.

“Who is it?”

Niall closes his eyes, and appears to… pray? Louis’ never seen that before. The answer comes and is accompanied by Niall’s quiet swearing. The voice on the other side of the door is deep and British and impatient as it yells back.

“Mechanic!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nikospringles.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> nikospringles.tumblr.com


End file.
